My following essay appeared on February 19 in the Israeli publication, Haaretz: Newly-elected Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd formally apologized last week to tens of thousands of Aboriginals known as the ‘stolen generation’, who as children were forcibly removed from their families by the government until as recently as the early 1970s. The apology was…
Showing all posts tagged settlements
Israeli lawbreakers
Finally, the evidence that categorically proves Israel’s colonial project in the occupied territories is illegal, even under Israeli law: More than one-third of West Bank settlements were built on private Palestinian land that was temporarily seized by military order for “security purposes,” according to a report by the Civil Administration that is being published here…
The Jewish psyche?
Idith Zertal, the Israeli co-author of Lords of the Land, talked at Columbia University last week (as recounted by blogger Philip Weiss): Zertal talked about the Israeli psyche. She said that in 2003 a young Israeli officer was interviewed by British tv and asked about the killings of Palestinian children. The ratio of Palestinians to…
Seeing them as human beings
At least some in the Israeli establishment display humanity towards the Palestinians: A group of retired Israeli generals has launched a campaign urging the army to remove West Bank roadblocks, warning on Wednesday that the travel restrictions sow Palestinian hatred of Israel and stymie the peace process. The 12 top former commanders say the hundreds…
Endorsing ethnic cleansing
Who knew that the internet giant Google would actually recognise Israel’s 1948 ethnic cleansing? The northern town of Kiryat Yam is suing Internet giant Google for slander, a local official said Monday, because a feature of its worldwide map service shows the town was built on the ruins of an Arab village.… With Israel’s 60th…
Complicit in silence
My following article appeared in yesterday’s Guardian Comment is Free section: During the current Israeli siege of Gaza – correctly described by Saree Makdisi as “strangulation”, Israel’s ambassador to Australia issued a plea for understanding the Jewish state’s position. The ambassador, Yuval Rotem, argued that, “the people of Gaza are not the enemy”. He also…
The need for Jewish dissent grows
Lynne Segal, Guardian Comment is Free, February 5: Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) celebrates its first year with its eyes on Gaza, demanding an end to the Israeli blockade and, on the uneven playing field of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, an end to human rights abuses on both sides. IJV was formed a year ago to raise…
An accidental war
My latest New Matilda column is about the recently released Winograd Report in Israel and what it says about the institutional failures within the Jewish state: The release last week of the Israeli Government’s Winograd Report was designed to reveal the failures of the Lebanon adventure and hold military and political leaders to account. Prime…
The Zionist rationale
Saree Makdisi, The Nation, February 1: Gazans have been ground into poverty by years of methodical Israeli restrictions and closures; 80 percent of the population now depends on food aid for day-to-day subsistence. With the aid, they were receiving “enough to survive, not to live,” as the International Red Cross put it. Without it, they…
Zionist life in the 21st century
This is what Zionism has become. “The occupation has claimed Israel“, states Jewish blogger Phil Weiss.